Nepal reports 3 more COVID-19 deaths, cases jump to 16,719

Nepal's COVID-19 cases jumped to 16,719 after 70 new infections were reported, while three more people succumbed to the coronavirus, taking the number of fatalities to 38, a senior health official said on Saturday.

A total of 431 COVID-19 patients have recovered from infection in the last 24 hours. The number of patients recovered from the disease has reached 8,442, said health ministry spokesperson Jageshwor Gautam.

The death toll due to COVID-19 has gone up to 38 as three men aged 60,54 and 45 years died of the disease on Saturday. The deceased were from Kathmandu and Sindhupalchowk, the official said.

The health ministry has recorded 70 new coronavirus infections, taking the total number of active COVID–19 patients to 16,719, the official said.

The number of active patients currently undergoing treatment at different health facilities across the country has reached 8,239. Nepal's COVID– 19 recovery rate is 50.50 per cent, the ministry said.

So far, 279,599 people have been tested for the disease.

The novel coronavirus which originated from China in December last year has claimed over 5.6 lakh lives and infected more than 12 million people globally, according to Johns Hopkins University data.